Filings Week Ending 2022 September 24

Residential summary process: Filings Report This report examines cases filed recently before reading, for which outcomes were largely unknown. Search Period Start: 2022-09-18 Search Period End: 2022-09-24 Earliest Case: 2022-09-19 Latest Case: 2022-09-23 Total Cases: 806 Total Transfers: 24 -- High-level take-aways: Percentage of landlords for whom attorney is optional: 28.2% Of those, percentage pro se: 48.5% Most common cause: Non-payment Least stable municipality/neighborhood: Plainville Least stable with 10+ filings: Quincy Least stable with 100+ filings: (not given) Least stable county: Norfolk Cases per day: 134 Housing crisis baseline max cases per day (UCL): 130 Housing crisis baseline min cases per day (LCL): 44 The number of filings this period is statistically significantly above the pre-pandemic housing crisis baseline. -- Courts (n) Count Percent northeast 139 17.2% western 138 17.1% eastern 125 15.5% central 105 13.0% metro_south 94 11.7% southeast 79 9.8% quincy district 16 2.0% wrentham district 15 1.9% haverhill district 9 1.1% brockton district 8 1.0% lynn district 7 0.9% malden district 7 0.9% chelsea district 6 0.7% lowell district 6 0.7% cambridge district 5 0.6% milford district 5 0.6% pittsfield district 4 0.5% attleboro district 3 0.4% barnstable district 3 0.4% bmc east boston 3 0.4% fallmouth district 3 0.4% gloucester district 3 0.4% lawrence district 3 0.4% salem district 3 0.4% waltham district 3 0.4% orleans district 2 0.2% bmc dorchester 1 0.1% fall river district 1 0.1% fitchburg district 1 0.1% hingham district 1 0.1% holyoke district 1 0.1% nantucket district 1 0.1% northern berkshire district 1 0.1% peabody district 1 0.1% somerville district 1 0.1% taunton district 1 0.1% uxbridge district 1 0.1% westfield district 1 0.1% Party Type (n) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 579 0 Natural Person 227 806 Total 806 806 (%) Plaintiffs Defendants Corporate Entity 71.8% 0.0% Natural Person 28.2% 100.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% Plaintiff Representation (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 567 12 579 Optional 117 110 227 Total 684 122 806 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 70.3% 1.5% 71.8% Optional 14.5% 13.6% 28.2% Total 84.9% 15.1% 100.0% Defendant Representation Important: Defendants will not have an attorney known to the plaintiff at time of filing unless this is an ongoing matter. 100% pro se is to be expected in all filing reports except to the extent time passes between filing and staff review. See outcomes report for final assessment. (n) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0 0 0 Optional 5 801 806 Total 5 801 806 (%) Has Attorney Pro Se Total Required 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Optional 0.6% 99.4% 100.0% Total 0.6% 99.4% 100.0% Number of Adults in Households Count Percent 0 50 6.2% 1 594 73.7% 2 129 16.0% 3 29 3.6% 4 3 0.4% 5 1 0.1% Total 806 100.0% Note: Households may appear with zero adults due to clerical delay entering known defendants, identity protection obscuring known defendants (e.g., 42 USC Sections 13701 through 1404 Violence Against Women Act), or no adult defendants (e.g., abandonment of minors). Initiating Action Count Percent Non-payment 498 61.8% Cause 169 21.0% No Fault 128 15.9% Foreclosure 11 1.4% Unknown/Other 0 0.0% Rate per 100,000 Municipality Residents Count Plainville 96 8 Gilbertville 86 1 Wrentham 63 7 Quincy 43 40 Whitinsville 43 3 Bridgewater 37 10 West Yarmouth 37 2 Clinton 36 5 Hopedale 33 2 Provincetown 33 1 Randolph 31 10 Cotuit 30 1 South Dennis 27 1 West Brookfield 27 1 Fall River 25 23 Middleborough 25 6 Newton Center 25 1 Edgartown 24 1 Worcester 23 42 Milton 22 6 Brockton 21 20 Framingham 21 15 Norwood 20 6 Whitman 20 3 Nantucket 19 2 Winchendon 19 2 Attleborough 18 8 New Bedford 18 18 East Falmouth 17 1 Fitchburg 17 7 Mendon 17 1 Milford 17 5 Revere 17 9 Southbridge 17 3 Winthrop 17 3 Mattapoisett 16 1 Marlborough 15 6 Gardner 14 3 Haverhill 14 9 Hyannis 14 2 North Attleborough 13 4 South Weymouth 13 7 Lancaster 12 1 South Attleboro 12 1 Taunton 12 7 Chelsea 11 4 Douglas 11 1 Foxborough 11 2 Webster 11 2 Weymouth 11 6 Gloucester 10 3 Westborough 10 2 East Wareham 9 2 Everett 9 4 Leominster 9 4 Norwell 9 1 Belmont 8 2 Carver 8 1 Mansfield 8 2 Pittsfield 8 4 South Yarmouth 8 1 Spencer 8 1 Tyngsborough 8 1 Centerville 7 1 Mashpee 7 1 North Adams 7 1 Oxford 7 1 Swampscott 7 1 Uxbridge 7 1 Bellingham 6 1 Dorchester 6 6 Fairhaven 6 1 Lynn 6 6 Bourne 5 1 Hudson 5 1 Malden 5 3 Canton 4 1 Lowell 4 5 Salem 4 2 Walpole 4 1 Wareham 4 1 Andover 3 1 Dorchester Center 3 3 Franklin 3 1 North Andover 3 1 Roxbury 3 2 Saugus 3 1 Stoughton 3 1 Waltham 3 2 Watertown 3 1 Arlington 2 1 Beverly 2 1 Braintree 2 1 E. Boston 2 1 East Boston 2 1 Mattapan 2 1 Shrewsbury 2 1 Somerville 2 2 Westfield 2 1 Cambridge 1 2 Chicopee 1 1 East Weymouth 1 1 Lawrence 1 1 Medford 1 1 North Weymouth 1 1 (not given) 0 383 Rate per 100,000 residents based on 2010 census. Municipalities do not appear if no evictions filed. Where neighborhoods are commonly recognized as municipalities, data appears under the neighborhood rather than the legal entity (e.g., "Roxbury" is separate from "Boston".) Where municipalities have alternate spellings (e.g., Marlboro for Marlborough), totals appear under the long form. Efforts are made to correct clerical errors in the court database, but clerical errors may appear. Rate per 100,000 County Renter Households Count Norfolk 117 100 Plymouth 104 45 Worcester 79 89 Bristol 77 64 Barnstable 62 12 Nantucket 56 2 Berkshire 30 5 Dukes 24 1 Essex 23 26 Middlesex 20 47 Suffolk 15 30 Hampden 2 2 Franklin 0 0 Hampshire 0 0 Rate per 100,000 renter households based on 2019 ACS. Counties appear even if no evictions filed. -- Data Sources (report errors to hello@masslandlords.net): County Data Households Percent Renters Barnstable 96,509 20.0% Berkshire 53,792 30.0% Bristol 220,528 37.3% Dukes 18,146 22.6% Essex 297,898 36.9% Franklin 30,927 34.1% Hampden 179,970 39.5% Hampshire 60,002 30.7% Middlesex 612,366 38.1% Nantucket 11,399 30.8% Norfolk 269,717 31.6% Plymouth 191,041 22.6% Suffolk 309,945 63.7% Worcester 316,162 35.2% County Households: 2019 ACS TableID S1101 County Households and Renters, Dukes and Nantucket: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts County Households and Renters, Large Counties: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=S11&g=0400000US25.050000&d=ACS%201-Year%20Estimates%20Subject%20Tables&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1101&hidePreview=true Dukes County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/dukescountymassachusetts Nantucket County Renters: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/nantucketcountymassachusetts -- Methodology Publicly available records at MassCourts.org are read fully manually at two intervals: 1.) For a filings report, once within approximately one week of filing; 2.) For an outcomes report, once again approximately 12 to 18 months after filing. Cases are searched by 'case type' = 'summary process', party type = 'plaintiff' within date ranges, typically weekly. MassCourts.org displays matches, not cases. X plaintiffs on a single case result in X separate matches. Cases are manually de-duplicated. Where the number of matches exceeds the number displayed (e.g., 'Displaying 100 of 257 total matches.'), date ranges are reduced until all cases may be viewed. If the date range cannot be reduced (i.e., is one day) but matches still exceed the display limit of 100, then two additional passes are taken. First, municipalities are filtered in stages. Second, to capture cases with no municipality entered, the search switches from 'case type' to 'case number', guessing the missing numbers assuming serialized entry. This method results in 'matches' reconciled to case counts. This effort costs more than 1 FTE. Summary spreadsheets are produced by copying exactly what is read. The spreadsheets are processed using proprietary software. Repeated analyses of local spreadsheets does not burden the MassCourts servers. The software is developed using best practices for revision control and regression testing. Limitations: Data are snapshots. As such, we cannot track individual cases over time or produce real-time reports. MassLandlords does not have access to court databases beyond what is published in human readable form at MassCourts.org. As of this report, MassLandlords staff were not considering information available to attorneys (e.g., the contents of notices, discovery, evidence, etc.) but not available to the general public. All data presented here are readily verifiable at MassCourts.org without special permission. Information is not independently verified outside of the court record. For instance, clerical errors in address, omissions of a defendant, etc. are not readily verifiable. As this process matures, reporting algorithms may change. Transfers are counted as new cases. Clerical differences between original case and transfer (e.g., middle initial included then dropped; defendant dropped on transfer; street address spelling changed) as well as the potential for indefinite circular transferring (e.g., foreclosure cases moving between housing, land, and/or superior courts) make it very difficult to programmatically identify continuing matters. Methodology changes: 2022-03: Where docket history shows judgment and/or execution, but case has not been disposed, infer judgment and/or execution. 2022-05: Correct counting error in 'By prevailing party' section where agreement for judgment renders prevailing party unknown. Rows now sum to total. -- When Citing This Work, Please Credit: MassLandlords, Inc. Available online at https://masslandlords.net/policy/eviction-data/.